In the post below this I laid out how GURPS modeled the unskilled shooter pretty well.

What happens to that scenario if the shooter spends a point on Guns/TL8 (Pistol).

In GURPS that's 200 hours of training and instruction per point. Or less than four hours a week. It's all instruction and practice with a skill, not just range time.

Guns/TL8 (Pistol) is an Easy skill based on DX.

One point gives a level equal to DX. So a skill of 10.

That means our shooter will have under a 50% chance of landing one round per turn. In the convenience store scenario, that means one shot out of the five should hit the perp and there's a chance of getting four to land if he rolls well.

Untrained. 3d6 a 5 or less hits. With Rcl 5, you need a roll of 0 for two hits; thus a second hit is impossible.
1 point. A 9 or less hits and 4 or less get two hits.

Our unskilled shooter has a mere 4.6% chance of scoring a single hit per turn. The skilled shooter has 37.5% to land one shot per turn and a slim but attainable 1.85% chance of getting a second hit per turn.

I've forgotten my statistics to tell what the percentage is of any hits at all over two turns. I want to say they're additive, but I could easily be wrong. Time to dig out the book!

EDIT
WRONG!I THINK...Unskilled shooter has a 9.2592% chance of landing one round and a mere 0.2143% of landing them both.The skilled shooter is a lot more complicated. I think it's 75% to land one round in two turns with five shots, 14.0625% to get two hits, 0.6944% to get three shots and a whopping 0.0343% chance to get four.

Geff gives me this:

First, let's define some notation, so the math is easier to express.
P(Y) means the probability of exactly Y hits after it's all over.
P(X,Y) means the probability of exactly Y hits during turn X only.

Unskilled shooter hits on 5-:
P(X,0) = 0.953703
P(X,1) = 0.046296
P(X,2) = 0.00
P(0) = 0.909549 or 90.95% of missing altogether in two turns.
P(1) = 0.088305 or 8.83% of landing one hit over two turns.
P(2) = 0.002143 or 0.20% of getting two hits over two turns.
P(3) = 0.00 or no chance of getting three hits over two turns.

Amazon was the first hit for "M44 cleaning rod" and a helpful link at the bottom of the page offered to add a sling to my order.

So I clicked on the link, changed the quantity on slings to two and checked out.

This generated an order at two different vendors. The slings coming from New Jersey and the cleaning rod from California.

Freaking amazing.

Both vendors chose the venerable United States Post Office for their shipping.

I placed the order on the 19th and today have my stuff.

My mind still boggles at the immediacy of it all.

I can still recall writing to a vendor to order a part and including a check in that letter. A letter would take more than a week to get to them, then the mythical "four to six weeks" allowance for shipping would begin and it never took less than five.

In its own way this is more amazing than the computer I carry as a phone.

I've chosen a Winchester Model 70 Safari in .458 Win-Mag as my weapon of choice for dropping a charging Rancor. I have one in the pipe and three in the hole. (Thag-Daddy's gonna make some ™Lucasfilm property turn col').

Assuming a Skill 14 and the Weapon Bond perk (+1 to Acc). I have an effective skill of 15 with an unaimed shot, 20 with an aimed shot (Acc 5). I get a +2 to hit because of its size modifier, so to hit it at all at 2 yards or less I have an adjusted skill of 17 unaimed and 22 after one turn of aiming.

A rancor has a move of 7.

Starting at 10 yards, it charges. I aim for one second and the range is reduced to 3 yards (-1 to hit).

But where to aim? It's big tough and fast. With a health of 14 and 30 hit points I'll probably have to knock into auto-death (-5x HP) to actually stop it (180 points of damage total).

The rifle does 8d pi+. That gives me 8-48 points of unmodified damage. With a DR of 12; 1/4 of my shot is absorbed without doing damage on even a max-roll. So I really have a potential of 0-36 points. On average I should do 28 of raw damage.

However.

To hit the torso, there's no "to hit" modifier, so my aimed shot is still 21 or less. Vitals are -3 to hit, so effective 18. The skull is -7 so 14 or less and the eyes are -9 so 12. The legs are -2, so an easy 19 to hit.

What's best? Let's take them in order of easiest to hit.

Torso. -0 to hit. Gets the 1.5x damage after DR. The average hit knocks the rancor to 6 HP which reduces its move by 1/2 (round up) to 4. That's a major wound so there's a HT roll for the beast to avoid being stunned (14 or less...)

Leg. -2 to hit. No damage modifiers. The average attack does 16 after armor BUT any damage over 1/2 HP is lost; so only 15 points of damage are sustained. That limb is now crippled! This is also a major wound, so HT roll to avoid stun is required. With a crippled leg it's not moving at 7 any more; if it stays on its foot it will be hopping at 2.

Arm. -2 to hit. No damage modifiers. The average attack does 16 after armor BUT any damage over 1/2 HP is lost; so only 15 points of damage are sustained. That limb is now crippled! This is also a major wound, so HT roll to avoid stun is required. This will keep it from using the claws on that limb.

Vitals. -3 to hit. x3 damage after DR. The average attack does 48 points of damage dropping our buddy to -18 HP. This is a major wound like the preceding but the knockdown roll is at -5 or 9 or less. Also, there's a straight HT roll for it to avoid going unconscious every turn from now on.

Face. -5 to hit. Just like the torso except the HT roll to avoid knockdown is at -5.

Skull. -7 to hit. Gets +2 DR so only 14 points, on average, penetrates. But those points are multiplied by 4 meaning 56 damage. This reduces the HP to -26. It's a major wound and the knockdown roll is at -10 (4 or less!). Because HP are now negative, there's that roll every turn (14 or less) to keep from passing out.

Eye. -9 to hit. Like the skull, but there's no DR at all! The full 28 points of the average shot penetrates to be multiplied by 4 dealing a whopping 112 points of damage; dropping its HP to -82. This is your high risk, high yield attack. HT-10 knockdown, HT consciousness and TWO HT rolls to avoid death. And because its HT is 14, on 3d6 it's almost assured to make those rolls.

On any of these if it fails its knockdown check it's going to need two turns to stand back up.

It will eventually fail a HT roll and lapse into la-la land, but it's probably going to maul you pretty good since the claws do 5d+2 cut and the teeth 3d-1 imp.

I think the winning strategy is to knock a leg out from under it. It's a certain hit and slows it down so you can get far enough away to aim again. From then on it's attrition. This is also the winning strategy if it starts closer than 7 yards.

19 November 2012

These pics were, ironically enough, saved my me because they show the carbines better than most sources. It was funny. I was sitting here saying, A1 pistol grip, aluminum stock, flat slip-ring... The Lovely Harvey walks past and says, "she's cute!" THEN I go, "oh yeah, and flexible..."

What this means is an employee has to bring more benefit to the table than cost.

Literally.

So if an employee is paid $15 an hour in wages and another $10 in benefits, then what they do MUST generate $25.01 an hour MINIMUM or there's no reason to have them.

By the way, haters, this is why some executives get stupid huge compensation; they generate far more than that for the shareholders.

Now, let's say it costs $75 an hour, total, to keep our employee listed above. $15 in wages, $10 in benefits and $50 in taxes/overhead. Yes, Virginia, the rule of thumb is employees cost 3x their compensation. Look up FICA and employer matching to see the tip of the iceberg.

Let's also say our employee is full time, salaried. That means we calculate as if it were 40 hours a week but pay a flat rate. It costs $3,000 a week to keep this person on. $156,000 a year for their $31,200 salary. Stunning, isn't it?

Let's say that our employee is an exemplary example and generates 15% more than they cost. That means the business takes in $179,400 per year and keeps $23,400 of it because that person is in the seat.

Still with me?

Now, our employee does this for 40 years, netting the company $936,000. To keep things simple, we're going to skip raises and inflation. They retire with full salary an benefits at 40 years too! On average our 64 year old retiree will live for another 14.2 years. There's no overhead anymore so it will cost the company just $52,000 a year to pay their pension. On average that's $738,400 paid out after retirement. It's OK because the business still has $197,600 from what the employee made them.

But notice how it changes the return. Instead of making the company $23,400 a year, they're only making the company $4,940. Just 3.16% return.

Now, let's add a union into the mix. They demand that full retirement happen at 30 years.

The same $23,400 is made per year from the employee. But this time only netting a total of $702,000. Our employee retires at age 54 instead of 64 and will (on average) live another 24.2 years costing the pension plan $1,258,400. Now we're in the hole for $556,400! Our retiree now is costing the company $8.92 for every hour they work.

See how seemingly small changes can have catastrophic effects? These numbers are also a gross oversimplification of the situation and paint it far more rosy than it really is.

17 November 2012

I have been cussing at the stripper clips for my Mosin for as long as I have owned it. Now that there are three more of them, I started casting about for a solution, or at least better clips.

Turns out I was merely loading the damn things wrong.

This is wrong.

This is how they should look!

What was happening is the rims were locking when they were being pushed past the interruptor and that keeps them from going into the magazine. If you set the rims so they're already properly aligned as if they were in the magazine they zip right in like they're supposed to! In retrospect, it's obvious. What threw me is that SMLE clips load with a symmetrical pattern with rounds 2 and 4 slightly behind the other three and the shape of the charger guide and follower stage them in correctly. So far that was my only experience with rimmed rounds and box magazines.

16 November 2012

They tried everything that businesses try to get back to profitability for five years. FACT!

In 2009 they declared bankruptcy and were purchased by investment capital firms. Labor and pension liability costs were determined to be a core cause of the lack of profit combined with a declining market for their products.

By 2011 they were left with two unpalatable choices. Dramatic downsizing or bankruptcy (again).

They needed the union's permission to downsize because that would have meant laying off a sizable portion of the workforce. This permission was denied. Other means of reducing overhead were also suggested and rejected by the unions.

So they went to the courts and asked to be allowed to go bankrupt again and this was granted.

There are three paths a bankrupt company can take. Get purchased by someone willing to sink some capital into the place. Completely restructure and become leaner and meaner. Give up and sell the store.

The first option had been exhausted in the 2009 bankruptcy.

The second option is what all the kerfluffle has been about lately. The accountants and the courts looked hard at the situation and came up with the now infamous 8% cut in pay and benefits. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) says that there's a 27-32% cut to benefits.

The Teamsters took the deal. The BCTGM did not, and went on strike.

Management at Hostess determined that they cannot weather such a strike and asked the bankruptcy court for permission to begin liquidation, which was granted.

This is the culmination of eight plus years of the union not accepting reality. Hostess has roughly five times the capacity than it has been producing. It is not 1/5 the size in terms of employees or pension obligations as when it needed all of that capacity.

Once again, the unions have decided that 0% is more than whatever was being offered. Even if the 32% cut to benefits is true, 68% is more than 0% and after liquidation ZERO FUCKING PERCENT IS WHAT YOU FUCKING GET YOU FUCKING MORONS! If you can't work out the math or don't understand that then you're just too stupid to let outdoors without supervision and a helmet.

Update:

The Union rank and file seem to think they won? Hey, dipshit, you're fired. You didn't win, you showed every business owner and entrepreneur exactly what they need to do to be rid of you and your extortionate tactics.

It's no coincidence that every single business which is union dominated is in poor financial help.

14 November 2012

Hanna is a Kiv/28-30 and I gather that not many are out there. $700 is a decent price for what I got.

The seller wanted a quick buck and it was just another Mosin-Nagant to him. That he threw in a Chinese Type 53 to sweeten the deal says a lot about how he valued them.

$250 for two guns because I knew more than the seller. Of course I thought Hanna was a slightly less valuable Kiv/27, but I'd still have paid $250 for her.

Reetta is a Kiv/39. The most common of the Finnish Mosins out there. The shop had it marked at $299 but was willing to consider trades. A stripped lower was enough. A lower I got for the bargain basement price of $60.

Reetta is capitalism at its finest! I walked away with something I wanted and the other guy got what he wanted and we both are happy with the exchange.

Turns out that Spikes wasn't lying about how few of those FL Hometown Forum lowers they were making and there are collectors of Spike's lowers. Lots of small variations in markings and stuff and your collection isn't complete until you've got one of every kind. If you didn't have the discount code, they had them listed for $1,000 on their web page. So, scarcity coupled with demand, PROFIT!

I'm going to have to do a proper write up comparing the four Mosins present. The differences are intriguing.

Someone who's bitter and angry about their car and or house being repo'd is going to pop a neighbor who's been living high on the hog on the dole or has otherwise avoided the consequences that have just befallen our someone.

The news reports the murder.

Instead of sympathy for the victim, viewers think, "hey, what a good idea!"

Suddenly there's a rash of copycat murders of welfare families. Perhaps saturating the cops ability to investigate any but a small fraction.

Far fetched? Have you been listening to people complaining about all the free shit others are getting? Do those people sound happy?

I'll also bet you know at least one family that's blatantly abusing the rules and have discovered you need a social security number to report them.

Is it still a straw purchase if I pay the man (an FFL) then have him ship the gun to another FFL out of state?

I ask because I have friends who're always looking for particular guns, live in other places than I do, and are good for the money. Stumbling across something on someone's wish list may also be time sensitive.

Going to jail for doing someone a favor would suck.

I tried asking a local FFL this question and I practically got kicked out of the store for attempting to make a straw-buy.

I am fairly certain that buying it, filling out the 4473, then selling it to my friend and shipping to their local FFL is legal.

Could be wrong. Again, it'd suck to be in prison for being a nice guy.

13 November 2012

Remember, it doesn't cost you anything until you win, so go ahead and give the next guy auction fever. You know you need a "between bans" lower and you'll be able to brag "I spent more for my lower than you did for your SCAR and optics; but I did it for Johnny er TAM!"

And numerous other laws passed concerned with equality. Worried about sexual harassment lawsuits? If you have fewer than 15 employees you can hire all men and never deal with it. Same thing if you happen to be racist or worried about racial discrimination suits. Under 15 and you don't have to record or report the gender/ethnic make-up of your staff.

This may be the biggest union-busting anti-trust law ever passed and it's only because the Dems are incompetent and didn't read it that it will do this!

The Lovely Harvey and I have an open relationship and she's one hell of a photographer.

She understands that with power comes money and women! In that order.

I just wanna see the breathless reporter blowing the roof off the "scandal" and Harvey saying, "Yeah, she was one of the prettier ones, wanna see pictures?"

Just a side note, the open relationship is real; but entirely theoretical because I remain my charming self. That level of charm has been known to cause perfectly normal well adjusted heterosexual woman to seek the LGBT community with speeds approaching superluminal.

That means that people who use pot tend to move onto harder drugs like cocaine or heroin.

What I am curious about:

Is it a gateway drug because one kind of drug leads to another?

OR

Does it lead to harder drugs because it opens the door to dealing with the illegal black market, which makes a lot more money on the harder drugs and has a gigantic incentive to move you to the product with the higher margins?

On this day in 1775, in Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the very first U.S. Marine made his mark on the dotted line, laid the pen down, turned and looked behind him at the second guy in line and said

09 November 2012

What we have here is a Spikes Tactical Florida Limited Edition stripped lower.

Since we're not cheap, bidding starts at $100 and we'll let it run until Black Friday (26Nov12). I'll pay the UPS shipping to the FFL of your choice (or face to face if won by a Floridian). I'll hit her tip jar with the entire selling price!Actually it makes a lot more sense if the winner hits the tip jar and sends me the receipt; let's do it that way! Bid in the comments! Or e-mail me and I will add a bid-comment in your name.

Cancer got my mom and The Lovely Harvey is a survivor of the very same cancer as Tam. If this will help someone be a cancer survivor, it's the least I can do.

EDIT: It should go without saying, but... You have to be legal to own this and it must be legal to own where it's shipped!

It's a 1942 made "B" Barrel Kiv/39. The Mosin-Nagant variant I set out to get when Anglave started talking about getting himself a cheap surplus gun for shooting. The B Barrel guns use barrel blanks purchased from Belgium and were likely put together by VKT.

VKT Proof and Asevarikko 1 (Army Weapons Depot One) Acceptance Marks

The Receiver Is Originally From Tula And Was Made In 1899!

The gun shop I found it at wanted a Spike's Tactical Florida Edition lower receiver more than they wanted this rifle. That worked out well because I offered them one in trade! It seems that the limited edition Spike's lowers are worth a fair penny to the right collector and he had a standing offer for one from one of his customers. Capitalism, everyone wins!

She needs a name. I am thinking that Reetta is right. Hanna was the obvious Finnish name, and that's taken by my Kiv/28-30.

My dad always had multiple scoots so I was often on the spare. When I grew up I got my own bike.

Dad was in a club, so I was in that club.

It's a neat culture to look at from inside and outside.

Sturgis was better before it moved out of town and became spring break for bikers. ;) How many times did you go before you found out there was a race?

I want to share something I noticed about a little word.

Cager.

It's originally to describe someone who doesn't "get" the whole thing about riding a motorcycle. They are surrounded by their cage; trapped in it. That cage is represented by a car, but it was more metaphysical in its meaning than literal. They drove a car because they couldn't grok riding rather than merely "that person is driving a car."

Over the years it's become a pejorative. It now means "anyone in a car" and it's expressed with all the hate and bile one can find from a Klansman discussing the habits of the melanin enhanced.

Want to know something else about it? Just like that Klansman, the most ignorant and worst riders are the first ones to fly to the term. "How could that cager not have seen me?" Hey, stupid, how did you not see that fucking mini-van? These are the same people who treat "share the road" as "get the fuck out of MY way!" These are the same people who blast to get out in front of a car then putter along at ten under who don't understand why they're being tailgated. Yet it's the car's fault?

For those of you who've never been in motorcycle culture, remember if someone's using the word cager they're either new to it or they're a fucking moron who can't ride.

Oh, if you're reading this, use the term and are thinking, "I do so know how to ride," how does it feel to be insulted by a blanket accusation?

08 November 2012

My Kivääri malli 1928-30 was built by SAKO Limited in 1936 using a 1915 Tula receiver and was issued to a Soujeluskunta (SK) unit near Raseborg.

1915 Tula Date Stamp On The Underside Of The Receiver Tang

SAKO's Markings On The Top Of The Barrel Shank

The Sk.Y. stands for Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunta or Civil Guard General Headquarters.

Civil Guard District Number For The Raasepori District On The Side Of The Barrel Shank

Of note is this reinforcement screw embedded into the forearm just behind the nosecap. The original Kiv/28 and early Kiv/28-30 were made by reworking an existing Model 91 or 91/30. Because the new barrels have a larger outside diameter, some wood had to be removed from the stock. The bayonet lug was found to have enough leverage to crack or split the stock where it had been weakened by this removal. The first fix was to cut the front of the stock off entirely and then splice in a beefier section. The second fix added sheet metal reinforcements inside the barrel channel and a through bolt to tie them together with the wood. Supposedly the second fix was not applied to a rifle without the splice. Mine has no splice!

I am just constantly impressed with the level of workmanship displayed on this gun especially as it compares to my 1942 made Izhevsk M-1891/30.

I've found I am labeled as a conservative by many of my friends and acquaintances.

I am not. Not really.

I am constantly asking myself why is it the government's job to...?

I'm a big fan of liberty. Freedom if you will.

You want to take drugs? Go for it. It's probably not the best thing you can do to your body, but it's your body.

You want to eat the "wrong foods"? Go for it. It's probably not the best thing you can do to your body, but it's your body.

Wanna be gay? Have at it. Get married, again; hit it! I've never understood why The State is required to provide sanction over a religious ceremony. And honestly, if two men getting married will ruin YOUR family; it's not them ruining it.

Wanna buy a gun? Remember the four rules.

Even a machine gun? Same four rules and now you're spending money at cyclic rates.

I don't think abortion is murder. However I don't think someone with religious objections to abortion should have to pay for it.

Want a car that's a death trap to the driver in an accident and gets 40 rods to the hogshead? It's your body and you're the one buying the gas.

If you think I shouldn't do something for my own good, convince me; don't force me.

I believe that too big to fail is too big to exist.

I am into liberty. Freedom.

I am opposed to anarchy. Chaos.

Government is a necessary evil, but it should never be forgotten that it is evil. Because it is evil it should be kept small and easy to kill.

Government officials should live in terror that their position will be dissolved. "It's Wednesday and we feel like firing you," is enough reason for the people to get rid of any functionary. For elected officials we'll agree to wait for the next election to discard on whim, but we should demand a method for unassing the slot for cause.

I think I will be back down to two soon since Anglave (waves) has been wanting one for a short while and I'm a generous soul.

This is the first time I've had rifles that were on opposing sides in a war in the same place. Svetlana was Soviet and Hanna was Finnish and both were made during the right time period to face each other.

PS: Bought from a friend who was a little down on his luck using the evil face to face gun sale loophole.

People get treated equally until they do something to deserve unequal treatment.

The unequal treatment doesn't even have to be negative. Do me a favor and I will give your preferential treatment over a stranger.

There's a measure of injustice from me though. I admit it. Because members of particular groups have been very consistently negative towards me, I tend to treat members of those groups negatively. It's unfair that we'd start on that footing, but I will happily record you as an exception should you prove to be! Prejudice through experience is not bigotry. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

I want equal, at least the same in the eyes of the law.

The people who screech loudest about inequality don't want that. They want to have a superior position from equal. I can't abide that.

What I think we're going to see soon is the return of open racism and open sexism.

If I cannot oppose a president's economic policies without being a racist, fine; I'll be a racist. A real one.

If I cannot object to paying for abortions because it violates my religious principles without being a sexist; I'll be a sexist. A real one.

What we have going on is many people being punished for crimes they did not commit. They are discovering that denying the accusation and demonstrating its untruth does not matter.

And when it doesn't matter, why should they bother with the right thing?

By the way, guys, while you were doing your thing you've also stripped the barriers that would protect minority rights should the racism thing return with a vengeance.

I will shake my head and smile ruefully when it's back to "Bitches in the kitchen, niggers in the field, and faggots on the fire." You don't get to be surprised that actively pissing off a large segment of society actually GOT pissed off. You don't get to whine when that anger bites you.

The only thing saving you now is that the people you're going out of your way to piss off agree that sexism and racism are wrong. Keep the pressure up and you'll get them to believe that they are sexist and racist and that they are RIGHT to feel so.

The Biscayne decided to remind me that she does not like being left to sit for nine months at a time and decided to pop the upper radiator hose off the radiator fitting.

No harm done but a loss of three gallons of coolant and a mess.

Also leaving me stranded down in Clearwater.

Luckily The Lovely Harvey was able to take lunch from work and bring me some coolant.

This, kids, is why you keep tools in the car; especially a Hot Rod.

So I repeated the process from yesterday of filling and bleeding the cooling system. Got a bit of a scare when the steam bubble just wouldn't shift. Shut her down and waited a couple minutes for things to gurgle a bit and then got it all out.

I've noticed that Kel Tec gets a lot of blogger action. You can't hardly swing a lolcat without hitting a blog with a review of one of their guns.

I've also noticed that the tone from most of the reviews is "good idea, poor implementation".

Lots of people have noticed the QC and a distinct lack of attention to detail.

I have a personal story about one of their products!

The Lovely Harvey has a friend; I call him Lenny The Libtard Gun Owner.

Just after I assembled my first AR Lenny bought himself a SU-16. Being a competitive cuss he immediately started comparing our guns. He walked away disappointed. I tried to be philosophical about it because he paid a couple hundred less than I did and there's simply a niche for a more affordable trunk gun. It seemed to fit that bill. It folded up nice and compact, took common AR mags and was very light.

A few months later, I get a call. He can't get the thing apart.

So I come over to help. I'd assumed that since he's not a mechanically inclined sort that he simply couldn't figure it out. Nope. While the disassembly is a bit fiddly, he was doing it right. What was going wrong was the firing pin would not come out of the back of the bolt carrier.

Pliers and some excessive strength and I got it out. What had happened was the firing pin retaining pin was hitting the end of the groove in the firing pin and swaging it into its channel. Lenny put in a call to Kel Tec about it and their reply was (his words) "Tee hee, we fixed that after serial number XXX, we'll send you a new one." The fix was a slightly longer groove in the firing pin. Also a couple of minutes with some sandpaper and the original was returned to service, giving him a spare once the replacement arrived.

His next QC moment was a broken extractor spring. I'd never seen one of those break before (I've seen them wear out but only after many more rounds than Lenny has on the gun). Kel Tec basically said that while they could send him a new one, it's the same part as an AR-15 so he could pic one up cheap almost anywhere. Lenny's priceless reply, "if this is such a common part why did yours fail?"

A week after getting a new extractor spring the pin that held the extractor broke. Thankfully it broke with the action open and we were able to get it apart. Again they told him that it was an AR part and while they could send him a new one... We hit a gun show and got him one from the parts guy.

Along about this point Lenny asks me, "what problems you have with your AR?" I said that I'd had none even though I'd bought my parts from the cheapest place I could find (Del Ton). I did mention that Marv's rifle length AR had a strange cycling issue at first but got better as we shot it more and was gone now.

Put the battery charger on it. Got enough volts to get the fuel pump running. I have 34 psi and it holds.

The old filter didn't show any resistance to being blown through. So I think my problem was not fuel related at this time. That's good!

However I think my poor battery is toast. The charger is unhappy with charging it.

I tell you. The fastest way to destroy a car is to let it sit.

I will probably need to replace the battery. The front rotors are pretty rusty from sitting and when I had the nose in the air to get at the spark plugs I couldn't turn the wheels by hand. Might need to do brakes too. Dammit. Luckily I have a spare set of pads laying around here someplace and I'd wanted to swap in some spiffy purple powder coated calipers I'd had done a few years ago. Perhaps this is a sign.

I had to photoshop the pic to get it to look like real life because the camera makes it dark blue for some reason!

Why purple? Because it's my son's favorite color. He's mentally disabled and will never drive so we do a lot with the Bisqueen for him because this is as close as he's going to get.

UPDATE:

The battery took enough charge to get it running! And it runs! I have 42psi of fuel pressure at idle and it's idling smoothly. Time to put the water pump back on and reconnect the intake pipe.

UPDATE TWO:

It's alive! ALIVE! Special thanks to Igor and the Translyvannian Board of Tourism and Lightning.

I took a short drive around the vicinity to see how she's doing and the opti change seems to have fixed it.

Because of anti-Christian bigots pretending they are atheists I got really interested in crosses on in public spaces.

It started with the crosses that stand over Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

I was told that no government monies could be spent on such things because of the first amendment and the separation of church and state.

I read the first amendment carefully and it doesn't include that phrase. That phrase is part of a single letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association.

We in the gun rights community talk a great deal about the injustices derived from the penumbras generated by adding words to the constitution. Why do so many of us ignore this?

What the first amendment says about religion is the Federal government is not allowed to establish a state religion and that it may not forbid the people from worshipping as we will.

The fourteenth amendment seems to apply the prohibitions on government found in the Bill of Rights to the states and perhaps to local governments as well.

What does all that mean? Did you know that the authors of the constitution and all of those amendments? They do say what they intended.

To be frank, Jefferson is wrong. It's not surprising, he was out of step with the other authors quite frequently, and to our benefit most of the time.

What was intended?

It was intended that if the population of a town was so incensed by the presence of a religious symbol placed in the public square that they should vote out the government officials who committed this egregious offense and replace them with persons more like minded. The intent was not to shield a teeny minority increasingly sensitive to any slight. The intent was not for the judicial branch usurp and override the electoral process when such a small group disagreed with the majority in an election.

This intent would not be clouded except for the need to have passed the 14th amendment. The intent of the 14th amendment was to finally ram home to the former Confederate States that they'd lost the war and that people with dark brown skin and kinky hair were free and equal citizens of the restored United States. That was the sole intent of the 14th amendment. The authors would be shocked to see their amendment twisted to remove a manger scene from the courtyard.

Over and over in my reading I find that the people who founded this nation intended us to be informed and to use our guaranteed rights to elect people to provide for our collective interests while also guarding our liberties. Judges were to be the referees, not writers of the rules or players in the game.

If you don't like seeing a cross on top of a water tower or a baby Jesus in the city courtyard, talk to your city council. If they ignore you, find someone to vote for who won't. Run yourself if it means so much to you. But until they declare that Christianity is the official religion of Yourtown USA and require you to attend services on Sunday, they have not abridged your rights in the slightest according to the protections of the 1st amendment.

02 November 2012

If you're considering donating to relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Sandy consider that their mayor is diverting resources so that the New York Marathon can be run as scheduled. Your donation to NYC will be just like a donation to Somalia: it's not going to go to the people you think you're helping.

I recommend you not donate to the relief effort and call your congress critter to demand that no federal money be spend fixing the place.

Where's my compassion?

The people most affected elected that bastard to do them like this and sending your money up there just enables him to do more harm. This is tough love. They will not fix their problem until the problem hurts them; so you have to make sure it hurts.

I am grappling with the Biscayne this weekend. I totally understand how Cap't Ahab felt in his pursuit.

Changing the opti-spark, plugs and wires.

Because it's a swap motor, just about nothing can be ordered stock.

I am so very happy I recorded all the vital information!

The pain I am feeling today, however, is the same pain any 94-96 B-Body owner feels.

The #7 and #8 plugs can't be got at from the top. It's just plain easier to jack up the front and attack them through the wheel wells with about 4' of extensions on your socket wrench. #6 is blocked by the AC lines and will often be broken while getting the socket on it to remove it and you've got to be super careful when getting the socket off after you have the new one on.

Yesterday was tear-down. I also got the replacement opti on and the passenger side plugs swapped. Today was a lighter day and all that is done is the driver's side plugs.

01 November 2012

The main reason I dislike illegal immigrants is that they are not coming here to become Americans, they wish to remain foreigners and reap the benefits of being in America. I think if you want the bennies, you have to join.

It all would not be a problem if two things happened. First if an entire raft of social support funding was off limits to illegals then they would not come for the bennies. Second, if businesses would stop hiring them, they wouldn't come here for work.

I had a realization about that second part last night.

Illegal labor is cheaper. The thing is, why? In construction they have to have some skills to be hired and keep working. They aren't stupid. Why don't they demand the same hourly wage as the local labor pool?

Guess what. They do. And they get it.

Then why are they cheaper?

Because even paying the same wage to the illegal the business is skipping many layers of government interference in the labor market!

When illegals are building something that needs a scaffold they just grab some lumber and build a scaffold and get to work. Legal labor has to get specially rated and sized wood for the scaffold that must also be inspected and approved, extra cost and a delay waiting for the inspection. The materials used for the illegal scaffold can be recycled back into pool of building materials once the need has past. The legal scaffold's materials can only be used for the scaffold and may not be repurposed EVEN AS A SCAFFOLD AT A SECOND SITE!

Things like this add up and pretty soon the risk of being caught for hiring illegal labor becomes smaller than the cost of complying with the laws.

And once you teach someone that ignoring one law is in their interest, they start breaking other laws. How long before they start ignoring laws that do make sense?